Glass furnace construction with an eduction tunnel which is provided with a vault



June 14, 1966 LENOIR 3,

GLASS FURNACE CONSTRUCTION WITH AN EDUCTION TUNNEL WHICH IS PROVIDED WITH A VAULT Filed Dec. 5, 1962 I'll 3 256,004 GLASS FURNACE CONSTRUCTION WITH AN EDUCTION TUNNEL WHICH IS PROVIDED WITH A VAULT Louis Lenoir, Leerdam, Netherlands, assignor to N.V.

Koninklijke Nederlandsche Glasfabriek Leerdam, Leerdam, Netherlands Filed Dec. 3, 1962, Ser. No. 243,189 Claims priority, application Netherlands, Dec. 1, 1961,

272,053 4 Claims. (Cl. 263-46) The present invention relates to a glass furnace construction of the type in which across the width of the furnace vault, consisting of refractory bricks, an eductlon or exhaust tunnel is connected and such tunnel extends over the roof or vault of the furnace and serves for the exhaust of combustion gases.

The. arrangement of the eduction or exhaust tunnel above the glass furnace has the advantage of saving floor space in the plant and of affording good accessibility to the sides of the glass furnace.

However, in known constructions the described arrangement of the tunnel results in a heavy mechanical load on the furnace vault especially at the place where the ednction tunnel is connected to the furnace by a shaft extending across the entire width of the furnace roof and communieating with the exhaust slit thereof' Furthermore it is necessary in'these known constructions to break away at least substantial parts of the eduction tunnel in order to render the furnace vault accessible for repair jobs and even for inspection of the condition of the upper side of the furnace vault.

The slit through which the combustion gases escape from the furnace is already a place where the refractory material is severely stressed, so that it is unwise to impose on this location of the vault the extra mechanical load of the superstructure of the shaft constituting the passage from the furnace to the eduction tunnel, in which passage the combustion gases from the furnace change their direction through 180 It is an object of the invention to avoid the above disadvantages of known constructions. In accordance with the invention, the exhaust tunnel is constructed as a unit, separated from the furnace and having a bottom of its own, the roof of the furnace vault being made accessible by suspending the eduction or exhaust tunnel bottom from cross girders which are supported, at their ends, on uprights arranged at the opposite sides of the furnace.

It is a further object of the invention to make use of uprights for. supporting the eduction or exhaust tunnel for the combustion gases in order to position the tunnel so as to be free from the furnace vault or roof and to make the latter readily accessible for repair jobs.

The usual advantages of exhausting combustion gases through an upper slit extending across the width of the furnace are maintained. The disadvantages mentioned heneinbefore of the known construction are, however, avoided. 'It is moreover possible to insulate the roof or vault of a glass furnace independently and to regulate the temperature thereof independently of the temperature in the tunnel.

It is a still further object of the invention to obtain improved cooling of the most vulnerable locations such as at the exhaust slit in the furnace roof. In this connection it should be noted that the combustion gases are agressive and that due to the relief of excessive loading from the refractory bricks of the furnace vault, the admissible temperatures for these bricks become higher. It is another object of the invention to obtain the possibility of building smaller furnaces with relatively higher capacities.

A further and more specific object of the presentin- United States Patent 3,256,004 Patented June 14, 1966 vention is to relieve the refractory elements of the furnace vault at the edge of the exhaust slit from additional loading by the superstructure and to realize this objective with a simple construction which makes the elements concerned accessible and interchangeable without requiring dismantling of the superstructure.

Other and more specific objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of an embodiment of the invention which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein FIG. 1 is a vertical longitudinal section through the middle of a glass furnace according to' the invention.

FIG, 2 is a cross section taken along the line II- ll in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a cross section along the line IH--III' in FIG. 1.

The glass furnace illustrated in the drawing has a bottom or floor 1 and a vault or roof 2, and the level of the glass in the furnace is indicated by the line 3. The

a usual bridge 4, dividing the furnace into a so called melting compartment 5 and a Working compartment 6, extends from fioor 1 about in the rniddle. An aperture through which the glass can be withdrawn from the furnace is provided at one end of the furnace as indicated at 7, and, at the opposite end of the furnace oil is fed through the duct 8 and injected through the central aperture or burner port of a refractory bn'ck 9. Apertures 10 are provided in the brick 9 around the control burner port for feeding combustion air which is supplied by way of the channel 11 communicating with an annular duct 12 provided in the burner brick 9. The flame issuing from the burner port is indicated at 13 and the combustion gases are exhausted through a slit 15 extending laterally across the roof or vault 2 and through a tunnel 16, as indicated by the broken line 14.

Below the furnace the tunnel 16 is joined to a heat exchanger for the heating of the combustion air prior to feeding of the latter through the channel 11.

The furnace walls are in the usual way built upfrom refractory bricks and the outlet slit 15 for the combustion gases is bounded by slightly heavier bricks as indicated at 17 and 18. The slit 15 extends across the entire width of the furnace, as is apparent on FIG. 2, and opens into a similarly laterally directed shaft communicating with the exhaust tunnel 16. The bottom 18' of the tunnel bears on hook shaped supports 19 (FIGS. 1 and 3), so that there is created a space between the furnace vault or roof 2 and the tunnel bottom 18', whereby the furnace vault isaccessible for repairs and other purposes. The hook shaped bearers 19 are suspended from cross girders 21 which, at their ends, are supported by uprights 20, and each hook shaped bearer 19 is further supported from the adjacent upright 20 by braces 47 and 48 (FIG. 3). In FIG. 3, only an upright 20 at one side of the furnace is represented, and the upright at the opposite. side is 52 provided along the furnace to support the side wall of the furnace and a pull rod 53 with which such uprights,

stituated on opposite sides of the furnace, are mutually connected.

Above the outlet slit 15 are cross girders 24 carrying longitudinal girders 25 from which hook shaped bearers 26 and 27 are suspended. The lowerends of bearers 26 and 27 fit under bearer strips which, in turn, support rows of supporting bricks 28 and 29 at the bottom of the side walls 30 and 31 of the connecting 'shaift between the outlet slit 15 and the tunnel 16. At the top of this shaft there is a roof or vault 32. Thus, the connecting shaft the uprights 33, 34' and 34a on which the ends of girders 24 are mounted.

FIG. 2 shows the way in which the tunnel 16 adjoins the shaft wall 31 which is suspended from the bearers or hangers 27. The connection 'between the shaft walls 30, 31 and the elements 17 and 18, defining the slit 15 of the furnace vault, is constituted by arcs of lighter corbels 35 and 36, which can be laterally removed when the elements 17 and 18 are to be replaced. It will be apparent that the construction according to the invention is also advantageous in that the elements situated in the interior, as at 18 and 36, can be reached thanks to the spacing between the furnace vault 2 and the tunnel bottom 18'. Such accessibility, is of importance because the elements 17 and 18 along the outlet slit 15 are most susceptible to wear and corrosion.

It is further to be seen that the laterally outward pressure and an important portion of the weight of the arc constituted by the corbels or bricks 36 are taken up at 37 by the uprights 34, while the outward pressure of the arc constituted by the corbels 35 is contained in a corresponding way by the uprights 33.

Similarly, the uprights 33 and 34 support the arcuate roof or vault 32 of the shaft, as indicated at 38 on FIG. 2.

The usual expansion slits 39-42 are provided between the furnace vault 2, the connecting shaft 30, 31 and 32 and the tunnel 16, and these slits are closed, at the outside, by removable covers, as at 4346 (FIG. 1).

What I claim is:

1. A glass furnace comprising an elongated vault of refractory bricks constituting the roof of the furnace and having a slit extending laterally in said vault and defining an outlet tfOl' combustion gases, an exhaust tunnel extendof the tunnel spaced upwardly from said vault of the furnace, a connecting shaft structure disposed to conduct combustion gases from said outlet slit into said tunnel, and means supporting said connecting shaft structure independently of said tunnel and said furnace vault so that said structure can be independently removed.

2. A glass furnace as in claim 1; wherein said means supporting the connecting shaft structure holds the latter with its bottom substantially at the level of said bottom of the tunnel, and funther comprising laterally removable refractory elements interposed between said bottom of the connecting sha-ft structure and said furnace vault and defining a passage for the combustion gases from said outlet slit into said connecting shaft structure.

3. A glass furnace as in claim 2; wherein said means supporting the connecting sha f-t structure include uprights at the opposite sides of the furnace, and said refractory elements interposed between the connecting shaft structure and the furnace vault form arcuate corbels which hear, at their ends, against said uprights.

4. A glass furnace as in claim 1; wherein said means supporting the tunnel include uprights at the opposite sides of the furnace, girders extending laterally between said uprights above said tunnel, hook-shaped bearers suspended from said girders at the opposite sides of said tunnel and engaging under the latter, and braces extending between said bearers and said uprights for laterally stabilizing said bearers.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,009,378 7/1935 Bates 1l0184 X 2,078,795 4/1937 Forter 345 X 2,226,498 12/1940 Koob 65335 DONALL H. SYLVESTER, Primary Examiner.

A. D. KELLOGG, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A GLASS FURNACE COMPRISING AN ELONGATED VAULT OF REFRACTORY BRICKS CONSTITUTING THE ROOF OG THE FURNACE AND HAVING A SLIT EXTENDING LATERALLY IN SAID VAULT AND DEFINING AN OUTLET FOR COMBUSTION GASES, AND EXHAUST TUNNEL EXTENDING FROM ADJACENT SAID OUTLET SLIT OVER SAID VAULT IN THE SAME GENERAL DIRECTION AS THE LATTER, SAID TUNNEL HAVING A BOTTOM SEPARATE FROM SAID VAULT, MEANS SUPPORTING SAID TUNNEL INDEPENDENTLY OF SAID FURNACE AND WITH SAID BOTTOM OF THE TUNNEL SPACED UPWARDLY FROM SAID VAULT OF THE FURNACE, A CONNECTING SHAFT STRUCTURE DISPOSED TO CONDUCT COMBUSTION GASES FROM SAID OUTLET SLIT INTO SAID TUNNEL, AND MEANS SUPPORTING SAID CONNECTING SHAFT STRUCTURE INDEPENDENTLY OF SAID TUNNEL AND SAID FURNACE VAULT SO THAT SAID STRUCTURE CAN BE INDEPENDENTLY REMOVED. 